This event brings the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky community together at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center to raise funds to fight for a cure for arthritis. More than 2,500 participants are expected and the goal is to raise more than $118,000.

Rylann, of Walton, entered and won a regional competition through the Kentucky Department of Education’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) by linking her role in the event with raising arthritis awareness. STLP uses project-based learning principals to empower student learning and achievement through the use of technology-based solutions to school and community needs.

Rylann’s goal for her STLP project is to raise arthritis awareness and raise money for her Jingle Bell Run/Walk team.

She started a Facebook page called Run For Rylann, wrote letters to local businesses and speaks with people to raise funds for her team. Rylann won STLP’s community service category and will be participating in the state competition in March at Rupp Arena with over 5,000 other students. Michelle Lawrence, Rylann’s mom, says, “She is very excited and hopes that she can continue to build her audience through this competition at the state level.”

In Ohio more than 2.6 million people of all ages have been diagnosed with arthritis; in Kentucky 1.1 million have been diagnosed.

Voted as one of the nation’s “Most Incredible Themed Races,” the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis is an important way to make a difference in the fight to end arthritis, a serious disease that affects 50 million Americans, roughly one out of five adults.

Contrary to popular belief, arthritis is not an “old person’s” disease. There are more than 100 different types of arthritis that affect people of all ages. In fact, two-thirds of people with arthritis are under the age of 65, including 300,000 children, like Rylann.

Dr. Daniel J. Lovell, associate director of the Division of Rheumatology at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, is the Jingle Bell Run honorary chair. “Having treated many children with arthritis in the Cincinnati region and from all over the world I am eager to support the research efforts of the Arthritis Foundation through this event in the hopes of continuing to improve arthritis care for our patients,” Lovell said.